ICTY urged to reverse Karadzic acquittal

Last year, the former leader of Bosnian Serb rebels Radovan Karadzic was acquitted of charges of genocide in seven municipalities across Bosnia and Herzegovina. But now the prosecution at the Hague tribunal is calling on the Appeals Chamber to revoke the ruling and charge Karadzic with genocide in all those municipalities. Karadzic is accused of overseeing the worst ethnic cleansing in Europe since World War II, with Muslims the main victim of the campaign.

The trial of the former leader of Bosnian Serb rebels have taken a new turn after the prosecution at the Hague tribunal demanded the Appeals Chamber revoke its first ruling on a genocide case implicating Radovan Karadzic. Karadzic was acquitted in June 2012 of charges of genocide, except for Srebrenica. Karadzic’s defence said there is no evidence that Bosnian Serb forces under Karadzic’s command committed genocide against the non-Serb, mostly Muslim, population in seven other municipalities in 1992.
The alleged genocide against Muslims and Croats had taken place in the municipalities of Bratunac, Foca, Kljuc, Prijedor, Sanski Most, Vlasenica and Zvornik.
The Hague tribunal said after acquitting Karadzic that the prosecution had failed to prove that the Serb forces crimes, were committed with “genocidal intent” to fully or partially wipe out Muslims and Croats as ethnic groups.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor, Alan Tieger, said it had been proven that Serb forces committed all elements of genocide in 1992 in those municipalities. According to the Institute for Research of Crimes Against Humanity and International Law statistics in these municipalities pre-war Muslim population was more than 50 per cent while after the war it has been reduced to only 1 to 2 per cent.
Referring to all this, Karadzic said that not only he was not guilty of genocide, but nobody is, because there was no genocide. He claimed that prosecutors could not find a genocidal intent in thousands of his speeches and interviews and orders.
The remaining 10 counts charge Karadzic with genocide in Srebrenica, expulsion of Muslims and Croats from their homes across Bosnia and Herzegovina, terrorizing civilians in Sarajevo and sniping at international peacekeepers and taking them hostage. Whether Karadzic will again be charged with genocide in seven municipalities, the Appeals Chamber will decide in the next few days.